There are many situations in which business forms are desirably provided with appliances when they are sold at retail outlets or the like. Conventionally, when appliances are sold, it is desirable to provide service contract, warranty, or like information and returnable forms with the appliance, including a reply envelope with reply address indicia thereon, so that a customer may fill out the information requested and easily return it to the reply addressee (typically the manufacturer of the appliance, or a service center).
According to the present invention a business form is provided for use with retail sales outlets for appliances that allow the purchaser to have ready access to, quickly fill out, and return service contract or warranty applications, information, or the like. The business form according to the present invention is designed so as to be as simple as possible, and so that no adhesive residue is left on parts of the form, which would be a significant disincentive to the purchaser handling the form to filling it out and returning it. The invention also accomplishes its desired results with a minimum of components that are difficult to recycle. Typically, shipping labels or invoices which accompany cartons are enclosed in protective plastic envelopes, which create additional problems of removal when the carton needs to be recycled. The business form according to the present invention eliminates the need for extra plastic envelopes, or the like, has great ease of removability, and is particularly useful as a point of sale item.
According to one aspect of the present invention a business form is provided having the following elements: A first ply having inner and outer faces and peripheral edges. A second ply having inner and outer faces and peripheral edges. Attachment means for operatively attaching the plies together along peripheral edges thereof. A reply envelope, with reply address indicia thereon, nested within and between the first and second plies. And a pattern of readily removable (e.g., repositional) adhesive disposed on the outer face of the second ply, and covering less than the entire outer face of the second ply, including not covering at least a portion of at least one of the peripheral edges.
The business form preferably comprises a third ply having first and second faces, and nested between the first and second plies. First indicia is printed on at least one of the faces of the third ply, and second indicia is printed on at least the inner face of at least one of the first and second plies. The first and second indicia typically comprises indicia blank spaces relating to a service contract, warranty information, or the like, for an appliance, including blank spaces asking for information about a purchaser/user's name and address.
The business form also typically includes a substrate having first and second faces, the substrate first face attached to the readily removable adhesive opposite the second ply outer face, and permanent adhesive attached to the substrate second face. The permanent adhesive is preferably covered with release paper, the readily removable adhesive, substrate, permanent adhesive, and release paper comprising a piece of transfer tape. The attachment means for operatively connecting the plies together preferably comprises adhesive patterns along the peripheral edges of at least some of the plies, and lines of weakness are formed in the plies adjacent the edges, interiorly of the adhesive patterns.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a business form is provided comprising the following elements: A first ply having inner and outer faces and peripheral edges. A second ply having inner and outer faces and peripheral edges. Attachment means for attaching the plies together along peripheral edges thereof. And a piece of transfer tape comprising: a substrate having first and second faces; a pattern of readily removable adhesive disposed on the first face of the substrate and engaging the outer face of the second ply, and covering less than the entire outer face of the second ply, including not covering at least a portion of at least one of the peripheral edges; permanent adhesive disposed on the second face of the substrate; and a piece of release paper covering the permanent adhesive.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention a method of packaging warranty and/or service contract information for an appliance is provided in the practice of the method one utilizes a business form having a reply envelope with reply addressee indicia thereon nested within first and second plies that are attached together and have inner and outer faces, with at least one inner face of at least one ply printed with warranty and/or service contract information, and a piece of transfer tape connected to an outer face of one of the plies, including readily removable adhesive engaging the outer face of one of the plies, and permanent adhesive facing outwardly from the first and second plies and covered by release paper. The method comprises the steps of: (a) Removing the release paper from the permanent adhesive. (b) Moving the permanent adhesive into contact with packaging for an appliance, or a surface of the appliance, so that the business form is held in contact therewith. (c) Removing the business form from contact with the packaging or appliance by pulling on one of the plies, the readily removable adhesive allowing ready release of the plies from the packaging or appliance. (d) Detaching the plies from each other. (e) Filling out the warranty and/or service contract information. And (f) placing the completed warranty and/or service contract information in the reply envelope, and sending the reply envelope to the reply addressee.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a simple, easy to remove, and effective business form for use as a point of sale item associated with appliances or the like. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.